LEBANON•Two people are reported dead and 45 wounded in clashes between Sunni Muslim and Alawite neighbourhoods in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli.LIBYA•Libya will put the son of deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi on trial, defying a demand by the international criminal court, AP reports citing the Libyan representative to the court in The Hague. Ahmed al-Jehani said the trial of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi will begin next month. One possible venue is Zintan, a town in the western mountains, where he is being held.

Being willing to discuss the issue is a big step from willing to step down but judge for yourself the significance of the comments AFP quotes Jamil as saying:

As far as his resignation goes, making the resignation itself a condition for holding dialogue means that you will never be able to reach this dialogue ...Any problems can be discussed during negotiations. We are even ready to discuss this issue.

As far as Obama’s statements are concerned, these are information and propaganda threats that are linked to the upcoming elections. There are all sorts of games that are being played in connection with US presidential elections ...

After the Russian-Chinese veto [at the UN security council] the west is looking for an opportunity for military intervention in Syria, but we must say that such intervention is impossible.

Those who are contemplating that evidently want to see the crisis expand and spill over beyond Syria.

Setting [the Syrian president's] resignation as a condition before dialogue means that there will be no dialogue. I believe, first, the entire Syrian people should be asked [about that]. If this issue is being imposed on us from abroad it is a very dangerous precedent in international relations.

4.10pm BST

Bodies found in Mouadamiyeh basement

Activist groups claim that dozens of bodies have been discovered in a basement in Mouadamiyeh, Damascus suburbs, which was reportedly surrounded and bombarded yesterday.

Dozens of bodies were found in a basement owned by al-Katkoot on the main road of Mouadamiyeh; the bombardment on the town has continued and there are reports that many have been killed and wounded during a funeral procession.

These reports cannot be independently verified by the Guardian.

Updated at 4.28pm BST

3.29pm BST

Aleppo funeral

People pray during the funeral of the Free Syrian Army fighter, Amar Ali Amero, who was killed by a sniper during clashes, in the Salaheddin neighborhood of central Aleppo in Azaz. Photograph: Youssef Boudlal/Reuters

Direct military intervention in Syria is impossible because whoever thinks about it ... is heading towards a confrontation wider than Syria's borders.

He said Obama's threat was for media consumption.

Updated at 3.29pm BST

2.07pm BST

Bikers back out

Despite their tough-guy image, Harley-Davidson bikers will be avoiding Beirut next month "due to the current situation".

An event known as MENA Harley Days, which was to have been held in the Lebanese capital in September, has been postponed until "the situation on the ground gets better", Bahrain's government news agency reports.

Updated at 4.04pm BST

1.32pm BST

MSF's improvised hospital

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) announced today that it has has been working in Syria for the past two months, using an empty house as a emergency hospital. It does not say where the improvised hospital is located.

With the help of a group of Syrian doctors, a team was able to transform an empty house into an emergency hospital in just six days.

As of mid-August, MSF has admitted more than 300 patients to this facility and surgeons have carried out 150 operations. The injuries have mainly been related to the conflict, for the most part caused by tank shelling and bombing. Many patients have suffered gunshot wounds. The majority of the patients have been men, but up to one in ten are women, and approximately one in five are under the age of 20. According to the medical team, two-thirds of surgical procedures have been emergencies.

However, the future of the project is uncertain. MSF is working without the authorisation of Syrian authorities. In addition, the changing nature of the conflict, problems accessing supplies, and the difficulties faced by the wounded in reaching the hospital are all threatening the continuation of activities.

1.10pm BST

Summary of the latest developments

Syria•President Obama has warned the Syrian government not to cross a "red line" by using chemical or biological weapons or moving them in a threatening fashion – implying that such action would prompt the US to consider a military response.

•Activists say government forces have stormed the rebel-held town of Mouadamiyeh, outside the Syrian capital, Damascus, after days of fierce fighting, killing at least 23 fighters.

•Syrian authorities are reported to be issuing arrest warrants for various Lebanese politicians on charges of "backing and financing armed groups". The move is seen as retaliation for the arrest of former Lebanese information minister Michel Samaha – a prominent Assad supporter – on suspicion of plotting to assassinate political and religious figures in Lebanon.

•More than 1.5 million people in Syria have been driven from their homes by conflict and are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, humanitarian organisations have warned in a letter to the UN and the Arab League.•Mika Yamamoto, a veteran war correspondent with The Japan Press, was killed on Monday in the city of Aleppo while covering the conflict there, the Japanese government confirmed today.

Lebanon•Two people are reported dead and 45 wounded in clashes between Sunni Muslim and Alawite neighbourhoods in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli.Libya•Libya will put the son of deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi on trial, defying a demand by the international criminal court, AP reports citing the Libyan representative to the court in The Hague. Ahmed al-Jehani said the trial of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi will begin next month. One possible venue is Zintan, a town in the western mountains, where he is being held.

Updated at 1.24pm BST

1.04pm BST

Lebanon clashes: 'two dead'

The Associated Press says the clashes in Lebanon have left two people dead and 45 wounded. The army says the injured include nine Lebanese soldiers.

1.00pm BST

'Bombing in Aleppo province'

An activist who goes by the name Abu al-Hassan told AP that warplanes and helicopters attacked a number of towns and villages north of Aleppo early on Tuesday, killing two civilians, including a young boy, wounding several people and damaging homes.

After strafing a number of villages overnight, government fighter jets dropped two bombs on a residential part of the village of Marea, about 20 miles (30km) north of Aleppo, Abu al-Hassan said via Skype.

Internally displaced within Syria

More than 1.5m people in Syria have been driven from their homes by conflict and are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, humanitarian organisations including Save the Children, the Norwegian Refugee Council, and members of the Elders (an independent group of global leaders who work together for peace and human rights) have warned today, in a letter to the UN and the League of Arab States.

They say there are about 10 times as many internally displaced people (IDPs) within Syria as there are registered refugees in neighboring countries, and yet they are not receiving the assistance or attention they need due to lack of access.

Mike Penrose, Save the Children's humanitarian director, said:

There is a danger that those displaced within Syria are being forgotten or overlooked. The violence and extreme restrictions on humanitarian access mean hundreds of thousands of people are at risk, especially pregnant women, children and the elderly. They are cut off from essential services and may not have enough to eat or drink. We urgently need to get into Syria to be able to help them

A statement says "aid agencies are urging the international community to urgently pursue an agreement with the Syrian authorities on securing humanitarian access to the country, and ensure sufficient funds are available". Elisabeth Rasmusson, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said:

Innocent lives are being lost and thousands are suffering without help. We’re calling on the UN to remind all parties to the conflict of their legal obligation to prevent displacement and, where this is not possible, to ensure protection of internally displaced people. The Syrian government must allow access for humanitarian agencies as outlined in Annan’s six point plan, and international governments should ensure sufficient funding is available to support the humanitarian effort inside Syria. There is no time to lose.

Updated at 2.14pm BST

12.40pm BST

One dead in Lebanese clashes

Reuters reports that one person has died as a result of the Sunni-Alawite clashes in the Lebanese city of Tripoli (see our opening summary).

The dead man was identified by residents as Ahmed al-Farfour from Jebel Mohsen, a hill inhabited mainly by Alawites and which overlooks the predominantly Sunni area below.

An army statement said soldiers raided buildings used by gunmen and "retaliated swiftly against sources of gunfire". It said five soldiers were wounded on Monday evening and another five, including an officer, were hurt on Tuesday by a hand grenade lobbed at an army base.

Aside from the army casualties, some 40 people were wounded in the two districts, residents and medics said.

Chronic Sunni-Alawite tensions in Tripoli have been heightened by the 17-month-old, mainly Sunni, uprising in Syria against President Bashar al-Assad, an Alawite. Clashes in the city killed 15 people in early June.

12.08pm BST

'Bodies found in Damascus suburbs'

Susan Ahmad, a Damascus suburbs-based activist told the Guardian via Skype that two sets of bodies have been found in areas close to the capital today.

We discovered today two massacres, one massacre in al-Tal where we found two bodies in the military hospital [a closed hospital used recently for shelter by civilians] where we found seven bodies .... The bodies were bodies of civilians. They were tortured badly and we couldn't actually recognised them.

We discovered six bodies in al-Qadam (WARNING: graphic video), again other civilians. They were killed in a very very horrible way. They keep on killing people, extra-judicially executing civilians for no reason.

The Guardian cannot independently verify these alleged discoveries.

On Mouadamiyeh, another Damascus suburb, she said:

The humanitarian situation is really bad, I talked to one of my friends yesterday there. She told me they have no power, they have no water. Snipers are spreading everywhere and they are shooting madly at any moving thing. People can't move. Most civilians actually left Mouadamiyeh but some of them cam back to check their houses after they heard shelling stopped [only] to be killed.

Ahmad was furious about Obama's warning on chemical weapons, as she felt it gave a green light for the Assad regime to go on killing, as long as such weapons were not used.

It was shocking, just chemical weapons are the red line? What about killing all these numbers of people? Every day we have about 200 killed in Syria - they don't form a red line? Assad is actually killing people using helicopters, using airplanes, using tanks, using snipers ...so it's okay? All the world is okay with everything going on here? People are getting killed just because they say "We don't want Bashar al-Assad anymore". They're getting killed just because they're at home when that shell came on their roof. All of this these things don't form actually red lines, just chemical weapons? For God's sake, it doesn't make sense.

Updated at 12.10pm BST

12.00pm BST

Assad doing 'more good than harm'

Daniel Pipes, the controversial founder of the conservative Middle East Forum and Campus Watch in the US, says President Assad's continued rule in Syria may be doing "more good than harm".Pipes, who favours bombing Iran, writes:

His [Assad's] murderous, terroristic, and pro-Tehran regime is also non-ideological and relatively secular; it staves off anarchy, Islamist rule, genocide, and rogue control of Syria's chemical weapons ...Fending off threats to our security and our civilisation remains a top priority. In this light, helping the rebels entails multiple drawbacks for the West.First, the rebels are Islamist and intent to build an ideological government even more hostile to the West than Assad's. Their breaking relations with Tehran will be balanced by their helping to forward the barbaric force of Islamism's Sunni forces ...

He concludes that staying out of the Syrian conflict will be "a smart move".

Updated at 12.02pm BST

11.42am BST

Syria-Lebanon machinations

The Syrian authorities are reported to be issuing arrest warrants for various Lebanese politicians on charges of "backing and financing armed groups". Those affected are said to include former prime minister Saad Hariri and, possibly, Progressive Socialist party leader Walid Jumblatt and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea.The move is seen as a retaliation for the arrest of former Lebanese information minister Michel Samaha – a prominent Assad supporter – on suspicion of plotting to assassinate political and religious figures in Lebanon.

Ya Libnan website quotes Ahmad Fatfat, a member of Lebanese Future Movement as saying: "The judicial system in Syria is not credible since it is controlled by the Syrian regime and is issuing the warrants in response to the charges."

On Saturday the Lebanese president, Michel Sleiman, took the unusual step of posting a series of tweets in English that appeared to be directed at Assad and expressing the hope that Syria was not officially involved in the alleged plots in Lebanon.

Michel Sleiman (@SleimanMichel)

"I have seen the explosives and I hope no official Syrian entity was behind it. I expect a call from Pr. Assad but he hasn't called yet"

Chulov on situation in Aleppo

Guardian journalist Martin Chulov has now emerged from Aleppo after five days without phone or internet connection. He will be filing a report for us shortly. In the meantime he has been talking to Mark Colvin of ABC radio in Australia.

Here is part of the interview:

Chulov: The grinding misery just seems to pile on. The artillery barrage, the air strikes - especially in the south-west of the city - are particularly intense. So is the fighting there. We did see yesterday, for the first time in this 18-month conflict that I've seen it, a number of foreign jihadis had arrived in Aleppo at the frontlines. They were standing nearby ready to enter, they were very well armed, they didn't want to know us. The only questions that we got in replies to greetings to them were, "Are you Muslims?"And so they were heading deep into the frontlines, they were being, I guess nervously welcomed by the Syrian rebels there who knew that the fact that they are brave and determined fighters but they also propose a potential problem in this dynamic in that they are looking to run their own race, they aren't really receptive to Syrian rebel leadership and this is something that will play out in the next week or so - how will the foreign jihadi contribution change the dynamic of the frontline fighting in Aleppo? Colvin: What do they look like? Do they have long beards, for instance, are there any clues as to whether they've come from Saudi Arabia or any other place? Chulov: They were open with the rebels about where they've come from; they were from everywhere, there were Pakistanis, there were Saudis, there were guys from Senegal, there were Uzbekistanis, Chechens and an Algerian that we saw as well.Dressed in I guess what you would say would be the standard battle attire for some of these jihadists that are black robes, turbans, vests to carry rounds of ammunition around their chest, bearded most of them and very, very Islamic, I guess cohorts.

Updated at 11.30am BST

10.45am BST

Blast kills nine near Turkey's Syrian border

Turkish authorities say a 12-year-old girl has died of wounds from a bomb attack in south-eastern Turkey, raising the death toll to nine, AP reports.

Interior minister Beshir Atalay said today that three other children were among those killed when a bomb concealed in a vehicle exploded near a police station in the south-eastern city of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border.

Dozens were wounded in the blast on Monday night, which came amid an escalation in fighting between Turkish security forces and Kurdish rebels who seek self-rule.

In a comment posted in the discussion thread below, Middle East analyst Christopher Phillips says:

The emboldenment of the PKK in Turkey (quite possibly with Assad's support) is directly related to the crisis in Syria and should not be presented in isolation. Just another example of how the Syrian civil war is having and going to have major consequences for Syria's neighbours - not just lebanon, but Turkey and quite possibly Iraq, Jordan and Israel too.

The Local Co-ordination Committees activist group and a rebel spokesman said regime troops entered Mouadamiyeh at dawn today and troops were searching homes looking for rebels. The rebel spokesman asked to be identified by his first name only, Ahmed. The report could not be independently verified.

Updated at 10.47am BST

10.05am BST

Red lines and green lights

In his latest blog post, exiled Syrian activist Ammar Abdulhamid takes issue with President Obama's "coldly articulated red line regarding the use of chemical weapons" which he says "might just translate into a green light for more frenzied killing sprees by Assad and his militias".

In his recent White House press briefing, President Obama said that he had not "ordered military engagement" in Syria, but noted that he might change his "calculus" should "we see a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around, or being utilised," by the Assad regime, as this development, for him, as he pointed out, would constitute a "red line."By framing things this way at a time when Assad's MiGs, helicopter gunships, missiles and heavy artillery are pounding residential neighbourhoods and civilian installations, including schools and hospitals, in villages, towns and cities all across Syria claiming hundreds of lives every day, President Obama's red line will most likely be taken by Assad as green light for sticking to his bloody tactics to the bitter end. After all, he was just told by the most powerful man in the world that he has no plans to stop him.

Russia warns west

Obama warned of "enormous consequences" if Assad failed to safeguard his weapons of mass destruction. From Reuters:

Russia and China base their diplomatic cooperation on "the need to strictly adhere to the norms of international law and the principles contained in the UN charter, and not to allow their violation," Interfax quoted Lavrov as saying at a meeting with Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo. "I think this is the only correct path in today's conditions," Lavrov said.

9.44am BST

All plots 'foiled'

Everything is going well in Bahrain, the pro-government Gulf Daily News reports.

Bahrain's security forces have foiled all plots aimed at destroying the country's security and stability and undermining police work.

Law and order has been maintained, said interior minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa yesterday, stressing that the Public Security forces' high performance, outstanding national duty, self-restraint, discipline and high morals have proved a noble combination.

He pointed out that discipline, steadfastness and responsibility will lead to increased stability.

The minister also praised the general directorate of traffic for their efforts to "ensure traffic safety for citizens and residents, round the clock".

Updated at 10.05am BST

9.06am BST

Latest from Aleppo

A series of tweets from the Guardian's Martin Chulov on the situation in Aleppo:

'They started random shooting'

Reuters has some more detail on the killing of Japanese journalist Mika Yamamoto in Aleppo:

In a telephone interview with a Japanese TV news programme, fellow Japan Press reporter Kazutaka Sato, who was travelling with Yamamoto, said it appeared she was shot by government forces.

"We saw a group of people in camouflage fatigues coming toward us. They appeared to be government soldiers. They started random shooting. They were just 20, 30 metres away or even closer," said Sato.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the clash occurred in the Suleimaniya district of Aleppo, the scene of heavy fighting between government and rebel forces.

Meanwhile , there is concern about two journalists working for Alhurra, a broadcaster financed by the US government. A statement from the Broadcasting Board of Governors says:

Alhurra correspondent Bashar Fahmi and his cameraman, Cuneyt Unal, were reporting from Aleppo when they went missing. A video posted on YouTube by the Free Syrian Army announced that the journalists were detained by Syrian authorities.

It was reported that Fahmi and Unal were travelling with Japanese journalist Mika Yamamoto of Japan Press.

Updated at 8.55am BST

8.46am BST

Message to Israel?

An article in the New York Times suggests Obama's remarks about possible US intervention over Syrian chemical weapons were intended to discourage Israel from taking unilateral action:

His comments seemed aimed as much at the Israelis as the Syrians. Israeli officials have indicated they might intervene if they thought those weapons were on the loose and might be unleashed on their territory.By hinting that the United States might participate in locating and neutralising the weapons, Mr. Obama was clearly trying to forestall the possibility of an Israeli move into Syria — and the reaction it might provoke.

Updated at 9.24am BST

8.40am BST

What Obama said – in full

Here is the full unedited version of President Obama's latest remarks about Syria. A journalist asked him during a press conference "whether you envision using US military, if simply for nothing else, the safekeeping of the chemical weapons, and if you're confident that the chemical weapons are safe".

On Syria, obviously this is a very tough issue. I have indicated repeatedly that President al-Assad has lost legitimacy, that he needs to step down. So far, he hasn't gotten the message, and instead has double downed in violence on his own people. The international community has sent a clear message that rather than drag his country into civil war he should move in the direction of a political transition. But at this point, the likelihood of a soft landing seems pretty distant.What we've said is, number one, we want to make sure we're providing humanitarian assistance, and we've done that to the tune of $82 million, I believe, so far. And we'll probably end up doing a little more because we want to make sure that the hundreds of thousands of refugees that are fleeing the mayhem, that they don't end up creating -- or being in a terrible situation, or also destabilising some of Syria's neighboors.The second thing we've done is we said that we would provide, in consultation with the international community, some assistance to the opposition in thinking about how would a political transition take place, and what are the principles that should be upheld in terms of looking out for minority rights and human rights. And that consultation is taking place.I have, at this point, not ordered military engagement in the situation. But the point that you made about chemical and biological weapons is critical. That's an issue that doesn't just concern Syria; it concerns our close allies in the region, including Israel. It concerns us. We cannot have a situation where chemical or biological weapons are falling into the hands of the wrong people. We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilised. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation.

In a follow-up question he was asked: "So you're confident it is somehow under – it's safe?"

In a situation this volatile, I wouldn't say that I am absolutely confident. What I'm saying is we're monitoring that situation very carefully. We have put together a range of contingency plans. We have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region that that's a red line for us and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons. That would change my calculations significantly.

Updated at 9.49am BST

8.31am BST

Summary

Welcome to Middle East Live. Here is a summary of the latest developments.Syria•President Obama has warned the Syrian government not to cross a "red line" by using chemical or biological weapons or moving them in a threatening fashion – implying that such action would prompt the US to consider a military response.Pointing out that he had refrained "at this point" from ordering US military engagement in Syria, Obama said that there would be "enormous consequences" if Assad failed to safeguard his weapons of mass destruction.Reuters notes that this was Obama's strongest language to date on the issue.•Mika Yamamoto, a veteran war correspondent with The Japan Press, was killed on Monday in the city of Aleppo while covering the conflict there, Tokyo confirmed today.

Masaru Sato, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, said the 45-year-old journalist was hit by gunfire while she and a colleague were travelling with the Free Syrian Army.•The EU is investigating whether the sale of cigarettes to a company linked to President Assad's cousins has violated sanctions, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Syrian dissidents said this sale and a larger one involving millions of cartons to the Syrian state tobacco company provided the regime with a cash infusion at a time of growing economic isolation, because the cigarettes could be resold for much more than they cost.The dissidents added that the Assad government uses cigarettes as a form of payment for the irregular military forces and militias, known as the shabiha.

Lebanon•Sixteen people were wounded in overnight clashes between Sunni Muslim and Alawite neighbourhoods in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli, Reuters reports, citing local security and medical sources.

Gunmen in the two districts exchanged gunfire and launched rocket-propelled grenades, residents said, in fighting which continued sporadically through the night despite the deployment of troops.Libya•Libya will put the son of deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi on trial, defying a demand by the international criminal court, AP reports citing the Libyan representative to court in The Hague.

Ahmed al-Jehani said the trial of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi will begin next month. One possible venue is Zintan, a town in the western mountains, where he is being held.